She’s here! Well, nearly! At first glance you will think “Annie…. did you deviate from the plan a bit there…?” heck yeah I did! But it was worth it! One of the self-imposed rules of the project is that they’re all to be single-piece casts, but trying to find a way to make these pigeons really be going for it and make it one piece was proving difficult. The reality of my drawing was some very flat, vertical pigeons. Nobody wants that!

So we accepted going multi part would work for this one, as joining “at the pigeon” is nice and easy, especially as they have the little rags of sulphur. And Olga really propelling them forward as they fly off to burn down an entire city well, it’s kinda sweet, right?

A question we frequently ask ourselves and each other is “will this make a better model?” and if yes – then go for it!

She has a few more tweaks and tidies, you can see for example the wire still on the pigeons. Yes even pigeons need an internal wire to survive the heat and pressure of the mouldmaking process! But this is pretty much how the final model will look.

The face being downwards gives the sinister, unsettling feeling that I intended, and it’s another example of being on the same page as Alan – the sculptor.

It’s also going to be really easy if you don’t want pigeons, and want to use her for something else, as you can make her be holding something else entirely or just chop off the little rag bits so she has her palms in the air. Versatile, as always!

So what next?

After the final touches have been added, Alan will ship to me Olga, Mary Read and Anne Bonny. I’ll check them over and take a few photographs, and then send to the casting company who will make a master mould. They send me some samples of the master casts, I approve (hopefully! Usually!) and then send a copy of each to our painter – John Morris.

The artist Martin Whitmore is currently working on his sketches of the three, which will then be added to the very limited edition collector fact cards. And I’ll get those to print, along with the painted image packaging once John has done his paintbrush magic.

AND THEN, they will be on their way to you!

Is she really just £5?

Yes! … for now! The first 100 of each Community Mini are price-locked at £5 but subject to change after that, so it’s more incentive to get in early. With these massive pigeons she may well end up around £8. So, while there are still some of the Collector’s Edition available, it makes way more sense to do that, right?

What’s next for Community Minis?

The long mentioned relaunch! I’m waiting until these are all out and in folk’s hands so it’s as simple as possible, a nice clean slate, and then we can vote on the next one! Woohoo!

-Annie